In this paper we test the hypothesis that central bank independence is closely correlated to social agreement about decisions on income distribution. Using data from a panel of OECD countries over the period 1972-2002 and controlling for several macroeconomic factors, we find evidence in favour...

This book brings together up-to-date findings on the regional dimensions of European labour markets. It provides a conceptual and empirical study of the interactions between the European economy and its regions, paying particular attention to the issue of the transition of Central and Eastern...

A frontier approach is utilised to estimate a matching function (reparameterised as a Beveridge curve) on data for the main Italian territorial areas (North, Centre, South) throughout the 1990s. The Southern labour market proves to be much less efficient than that in the rest of the country,...

This book provides an up-to-date analytical and empirical treatment of some important interactions between paid and unpaid labour and the social economy. The emphasis on the preferences of paid and unpaid labour and on their role in the efficient provision of social services makes a contribution...

This paper analyses the relatively novel concept of a downward-sloping demand for volunteer labour, using data from the Italian social services sector. Both descriptive and econometric evidence shows that the price of volunteer labour (proxied by its shadow price obtained through DEA) is...

English Abstract: This note aims to provide an initial assessment of the territorial labor-market data reconstructed under the aegis of the SVIMEZ initiative for the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. Various time series were reconstructed within the 150-year time range going from...

This paper tests the existence of a Beveridge Curve across the economies of nine OECD countries from 1980 to 2011, investigating the impact of various kinds of structural factors (technological progress, globalisation, oil prices) and of the current recession on the Curve. Technological progress...

This note is intended to provide an initial assessment of the potentialities of the data reconstruction work, relating to labour market series, carried out as part of the SVIMEZ volume for the Sesquicentennial of the Unification of Italy. To this end, we develop some considerations on a key...

A matching theory approach is used to assess the impact on the Italian labour market of the 1997 Treu Act (legge Treu), which considerably eased the regulation of temporary work and favoured its growth in Italy. We re-parameterize the matching function as a Beveridge Curve and estimate it as a...

This paper employs recently developed non-stationary panel methodologies that assume cross-section dependence to estimate a production function for Italian regions over the 1970-2003 period. The analysis consists of three steps. First, unit root tests for cross-sectionally dependent panels are...